Forums → Art, Music, and Writing → 50 Theme Challenge
| 202 | 56044 |
Well! What was originally going to be my own little poetry challenge has turned into a major competition! Please read every word in this opening post very carefully as everything I say must be adhered to. I don't know if you know this, but I am very strict with my rules and regulations...
The general point of this competition
A few of us users have come up with a list of 50 themes which can be found below. The aim of this competition is to write a poem or a piece of short prose for each theme, just for fun! There are no deadlines (as of yet) for the submissions because I don't want the pieces to be hurriedly written, so don't let that put you off participating. Everyone is welcome to participate. There's no pressure to submit all 50 pieces, take your time, have fun!
Please remember to follow the basic rules of the AMW. All work must be your own. No flaming, trolling, spamming, etc. Only provide critique on a user's piece if they have asked for it specifically. Keep general discussion on this thread to a minimum so as to remain at least a little bit on topic.
Submissions
A list of rules that (hopefully) cover everything you need to know about submissions. Read carefully. If you have any questions, contact me on my profile.
*You do not need to submit the pieces in order. You may start with whichever theme you like.
* Once you have written and revised a piece, submit it!
*You may submit more than one piece at a time, although submitting too many at once will seem as though you've rushed them.
*I will keep track of how many submissions each participant has entered on my profile, so take a look once in a while.
*Only short prose pieces are accepted. Nothing too longwinded please. I am going to include a word limit of 1,500 words.
*There is a certain structure to submitting a piece in order to keep the thread nice and tidy:
- Your piece must have the theme name and number as the title in bold. You may also include your own title in brackets next to it.
- You must state which form you have written your piece in, for example, haiku, short prose, sonnet, standard verse, etc.
Here is an example post;
51. Insanity (Two Minds) - Haiku
Come here; don't be scared
I am confined in both minds
Stay away from me
List Of Themes
1. Innocence
2. Entombment
3. A Forgotten Name
4. Rising Tide
5. A Broken Picture
6. Leaves Falling In Autumn
7. Birth
8. Falling Into The Abyss
9. Near-death Experience
10. Beautiful Sunset
11. New School
12. Describing Colour To A Blind Person
13. Home Alone
14. Nightmare
15. Dreams
16. Inner strength
17. Self-Hatred
18. Martyrdom
19. Political Corruption
20. Self-Completion
21. Genius
22. Thanksgiving
23. Halloween
24. Christmas
25. Guilt
26. Daydreams
27. Orange Leaves In Autumn
28. A Shy Person In The Middle Of A Crowd
29. Unrequited love
30. Kraken
31. Memories
32. Revolution
33. The Shining Auroras
34. Poverty
35. A Hero Among Evil
36. An Entity Who Shows Itself
37. The 5th Dimension
38. Berserk Wildlife
39. A Light In The Black
40. Trial And Error
41. A Creation
42. Two-Faced
43. Disillusionment
44. Regular/Ordinary
45. The Mind Of A Villain
46. Someone Who Lives To Watch The World Burn.
47. Old Age
48. Something For The Girls
49. Something For The Boys
50. Go Crazy
And now for the fun part...
I am going to include a few features similar to Strop's 'erks and penalties' idea in the WoM. Some of them are preeeetty difficult, so good luck with that. Once you've completed one, I'll stick your name on my profile.
Here they are:
1) Theme-a-Rama!: Mention 15 separate themes in one piece.
2) Sonnet 130: Write a mock sonnet which relates to love and one other theme.
3) Total Overkill: Use the theme title 6 times in one piece.
4) Like a Freight Train: Be the first to complete the first 10 themes.
5) In The Dank And Dark Recesses Of The Mind...: Be the first to complete themes 8, 14, 17 and 46.
And there'll be more coming your way!
Lets get started!
- 202 Replies
Oh, I should probably say this... Jezz, I have a Total Overkill with mine a few pages back...
46. Someone Who Lives To Watch The World Burn
The world around is on fire
buildings burning to the ground
but he just stands there and laughs
this is his doing, this is what he likes
People burning to their deaths
he walks by them, grinning smugly
he stops by one to make sure
that this one dies in flames
Now the city has stopped burning
the man moves on to the next city
to burn another, this man who
lives to watch the world burn.
This is my second poem in the "Dank and dark recesses of the mind".
46. Someone Who Lives to Watch the World Burn
A Bavarian Waltz
Plays in her head, though
People never hear the tune.
Calmly she walks
Amung burned-out hulks
And facades leaning over the street.
Chic heels click loudly
On the cracked and charred
Cobbled stones of the avenue.
Ash rains down, swirling
Amid the breeze, buzzing
With her anticipation.
It begins to rain,
The overcast sky reflecting
How the world feels right now.
Sizzling, it falls
With Plinks! and Plops!
Cooling the wreckage, once ablaze.
Endorphines filled with
Pleasure flutter through
Her warped and twisted mind.
A match flares up, in
The greyness like a
Beacon for non-existent hope.
Through her fingers
It slips; twisting through
the air, it flares up.
Flames hungrily devour,
Setting the Whole World
Ablaze.
A third poem in the "Dank and Dark Recesses of the Mind'. It seems this is turning into a competition between me and Maverick.
8. Falling into the Abyss
I fall off the edge of the world
a weightless feeling grabs me
the last thing I will feel.
I look down and see
only darkness below me
and soon it consumes me
I wonder when I will hit
the bottom, if there is
even a bottom to this pit
Nothing left for me to see
I prepare myself for impact
and pray there's an afterli..
one more poem left, which will come soon.
14. Nightmare
When I am asleep:
Shadows flit in-between,
Causing havoc and despair.
When I am awake:
Crossing over into
My life; recking everything.
When I am asleep:
Scenes warped out of control
Tantalizingly surreal.
When I am awake:
Showing on the outside
Turmoil burns my belly.
When I am asleep:
My insides filled with dread
Pain forcing my eyes open.
When I am awake:
Fear is my compainion
Can't take it anymore.
__________
Just cossing over a nightmare into how I feel asleep and awake. Inspired from real life, and also a Japanese Poem called 'Choka', where you start out with two similar sounds/words.
And I believe this sets me up for "In the Dank and Dark Recesses of My Mind". Sorry Waluigi: I beat you to it.
26. Daydreams
I'm just one wing away.
Still, I can't outfly the day.
Won't you come with me, and stay,
We might reach there, to-day.
Woah-oooh-oooh-oh
Woah-oooh-oooh-oh
Ahhh-ahhh-ahhh-ah
Ahhh-ahhh-ahhh-ah
Won't you come with me, and fly,
And we can soar, up high.
Just wave the ground, good-bye.
So come and kiss, the sky.
Woah-oooh-oooh-oh
Woah-oooh-oooh-oh
Ahhh-ahhh-ahhh-ah
Ahhh-ahhh-ahhh-ah
__________
Its about flying, and I stuck it under 'daydream', 'cause well... thats what I daydream about. The first line kept popping up in my head, and I ran with it. Sorta turned into a song, I guess...
I still am going to finish the "Dank and Dark Recesses of the Mind" series despite the fact I lost.
17. Self-Hatred
So many things wrong with me
I am not perfect, I am not right
I hate that I'm this way
So now I am saying these last words
before I get rid of myself, so
I don't have to deal with myself anymore.
That was... depressing
and at Mavrick...
Just kidding . But I was so close to winning...
Waluigi, you spelled Maverick's name wrong...
Nice drawing, though.
______
9. Near-death experience
Free verse
He holds his knife
like a conductor's baton,
balancing it on the tips
of his fingers.
Then, he adjusts his pose,
almost imperceptibly
leaning forward.
All at once, I shout.
The sound is loud,
bouncing off the walls,
ricocheting through
his concentration, breaking it.
At the same moment the noise
darts through his attention,
his fingers move, and the blade
slices through the air.
The knife never reaches its mark.
Instead, it flies toward my throat,
misses, coming within
millimeters
of my skin.
It's not my drawing; It's a meme . Also, I always forget the "e" in Maverick.
Hmmm.. I really don't know which theme this ties in with. I just wanted to post in my own thread D:
29/31/42. Everything Is Backwards - lyrics
I'm afraid I still can't figure you out,
And I'm afraid I never will,
And I'm ashamed to say this hurts me,
In ways you don't have to feel.
I thought you said you're different?
There's silly girls who believed it,
And they liked the songs you wrote,
Though your words don't mean a thing.
Get away and come back to me,
Stop the bleeding, let me bleed free,
Everything is backwards so you tell me how I'm supposed to feel?
You believed I was afraid ,
To be alone with you,
But I'm afraid that one day you'll find out,
I'm afraid to be without you and,
The mistake was writing this song,
In case it tears you apart,
And in case you realise the rhythm,
Is the beating of my own heart.
Now the clocks, they don't ever stop,
Not for time wasters like me.
Which is why I'd stay up all night,
So I wouldn't miss a thing.
I'm honestly not interested,
In those silly games boys play.
So tell me now, why seriously,
Do I fall for it every day?
This is my final chance,
'Cause you've noticed I'm watching you,
And you should know I want this,
Because you know I tell the truth, but,
Get away and come back to me,
Stop the bleeding, let me bleed free,
Everything is backwards so you tell me how I'm supposed to feel?
Oh just leave and come straight back to me,
Stop the hurt, please stop hurting me.
Everything is backwards so you tell me how I'm supposed to feel?
You believed I was afraid,
To be alone with you,
But I'm afraid that one day you'll find out,
I'm afraid to be without you and,
The mistake was writing this song,
In case it tears you apart,
And in case you realise the rhythm,
Is the beating of my own heart.
Just the beating of my own heart.
Don't let me down,
Don't ever let me down.
Don't let me down,
Don't ever let me down again.
You believed I was afraid ,
To be alone with you,
But I'm afraid that one day you'll find out,
I'm afraid to be without you and,
The mistake was writing this song,
In case it tears me apart,
And in case I realise the rhythm stops,
Stops the beating of my own heart.
--------------------
Excellent stuff guys!
and at Mavrick...
Whose Mavrick? Can I meet him? Is he behind the curtain!
Forgot to mention this: any and all constructive criticism would be nice on all my works. Thanks.
5. A Broken Picture
a poem in iambic tetrameter
Teetering from the glacier's edge,
black fingers slipping on the ledge.
So freezing cold and so alone.
Fingers slipping on granite stone.
BANG! Like a gun, ice is cracking.
Ice is breaking, snow is packing
into every crevice and gap.
Weight's building up, it's soon to snap.
Frozen like ice from head to toes.
Can you feel it? Nobody knows.
You're like a snowman. Drip. Drip. Drip.
Slipping, falling, losing your grip.
On everything are water stains.
Soaking it all, 'till naught remains.
Ink is running, blurring it all.
Can't tell if you're ready to fall.
Water drips on photos, in sounds.
Distorting them, then they're torn down.
Once ruined, they can't be repaired.
Soon enough, you will not care.
44. Regular/Ordinary
Been up too late, and don't care to get up and do what must be done. Waiting till the last moment to drag myself out of bed and fwump into some more or less clean clothes lying on the floor.
And since there is no clean dishes, it is eating breakfast out of a cup. With a tea spoon, since the regular spoons are somewhere in the mess of... whatever is in the sink.
Out the door, down the street, standing at the bus stop and staring at the little numbers showing when the next bus will drop by.
At school, finally, waiting on my classmates. I might be early, but definitely not prepared. We have a long day ahead of us, having to write the last of our assignment for tomorrow. When I say "last", I do mean "all".
Writing, surfing the internet, procrastinating. Discussing something or another for the assignment, but not getting anything done.
More of all of it. Then a break for dinner after all that time, still not getting anything but a few lazy keystrokes done.
And goodness... If this wasn't the same thing that happened every time I had to write a paper...
14 hours left.
20 pages left.
We are doomed TT TT
/Cen obviously not procrastinating the paper.
34. Poverty
I lay in the street
at the edge of my alley
begging all passer-bye's
for money or food.
Yet nobody listens
my pockets grow lighter
and my ribs become
clearer and clearer.
This is the life
of one with no money
and is it really worth
staying alive for?
Can we post older works that weren't written for this? Or must they be written for the 50 Theme Challenge? I'm curious.
And Jess, could you update your profile? Thanks.
You must be logged in to post a reply!